Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Common Admission Test (CAT) 2013, a ticket to the prestigious 13 IIMs and
other premium B-schools in the country will be held from October 16 to
November 11 across 40 cities. Last year there were 36
locations.

Total 1.94 lakh aspirants have registered for Common
Admission Test (CAT) 2013 and they would be competing for approx. 3,300 seats in
13 IIMs.

The first session will begin at 10 am and the second
Session will start at 3.15 pm. The total duration of the test will be 2 hour
35 minutes. Students need to report at the test centre atleast 1 hour 30 minutes
before their scheduled test.

IIM Indore will be conducting CAT this year with
Prof. Rohit Kapoor as the Convenor. The pattern of the test is going to be the
same as last year with two sections Quantitative Ability /Data Interpretation
and Verbal Ability/Logical Reasoning and a duration of 70 minute each. Like last
year and the year before, you cannot move between the sections.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Government is likely to consultpolitical parties before firming up its response on theSupreme Court judgement on disqualification of lawmakers. Government's legal arm, the Law Ministry, is goingthrough the fine print of the order, parts of which haveapparently not gone down well with political parties. Sources said the next step of the government would dependon the response of the political parties which are likely tobe consulted in the coming days. The focus of the study is the part of the verdict whichseeks to remove the discrimination between an ordinaryindividual and an elected lawmaker who enjoys protection underthe Representation of the People's Act. The sources said political parties, who have been guardedin their response, may suggest moving a larger bench of theapex court or even taking a legislative route to overturn thejudgement. "It is a 41-page verdict. We need to study it...peoplewho will implement it and people who will come under itspurview also need to study it," Information and BroadcastingMinister Manish Tewari said here. He said in his personal opinion, "prima facie, no oneshould have objection" to the verdict. Commenting on the contention that cases could be filedout of political rivalry, Tewari opined that any judgement bya court comes after a trial process. "If the court reaches aconclusion, it should be respected."

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Chinese daily blames British for confusion over Aksai Chin
Confusion over Aksai Chin, the areaoccupied by China during 1962 war with India, was created bycolonial British rulers who have never presented it to Chinesegovernments in the past, an article in an official daily heresaid today. "India's claim to Aksai Chin is mainly based on theJohnson Line proposed in 1865. Aksai Chin was put insideKashmir in the proposal. However, the line was never presentedto the Chinese government and was severely criticised for itsgross inaccuracies by the British government, which haddominant colonial power in India at that time," an article inthe Global Times said today. From the 1950s, India started establishing outposts inthe area, having set up 43 in its heyday in the border regionsof Xinjiang and Tibet, it said. The site of the latest standoff, referred to as theDepsang Valley, is called Tiannan River Valley by the Chinese. It is located in the western sector of Aksai Chin, whichis largely a vast high-altitude desert covering an area ofabout 37,000 square km, the article, a compilation of views ofIndian and Chinese analysts on the recent stand off, said. Aksai Chin is also one of the two main disputed borderareas over which China and India fought the 1962 war. The area is administered by China as part of Hotan countyin the Hotan prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomousRegion. India regards Aksai Chin as a part of the Ladakhdistrict, it said. Although China dismantled the Indian outposts after the1962 war and has since reinforced its actual control of thearea, Indian troops continue to patrol the area, it said. A Chinese analyst Hu Shisheng, an expert on South Asiaresearch at the China Institute of Contemporary InternationalRelations refuted the perception that India is getting closerto Japan, Vietnam, Korea and Myanmar apprehending aggressivemoves by China. India is unlikely to become an ally with countriesinvolved in territorial disputes with China, Hu said. "Only if India maintains its strategic independence canit maximize gains from its relations with other countries," hesaid.

No LPG to houses with multiple-connections from Jun 1 Cooking gas or LPG supplies tohouseholds having unverified multiple connections will stopfrom June 1, state-owned oil firms announced today. The three state-owned fuel retailers have been "directedto stop supplies of LPG refills to households having multiple-connections for which no KYC (Know Your Customer) details havebeen received, with effect from June 1," a statement issued byIndian Oil Corp, the nation's largest oil firm, said. No transactions, including delivery of non-subsidisedcylinders, will be permitted in such cases once suchconnections have been blocked. IOC said all multiple LPG connection holders have beenidentified and intimated. All three firms, IOC, HindustanPetroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) are sharing dataon LPG customers. Customers whose name figure on the list of multipleconnection holders need to submit their KYC details along withproof of identity and proof of address immediately to theirLPG distributors to continue receiving uninterrupted quota ofsubsidised cylinders, IOC said. Other customers whose names do not appear in the listneed not submit their KYC details as of now. "The oil companies are advising all multiple-connectionholders to submit their KYC details, pertaining to the LPGconnection they wish to retain, immediately to their LPGdistributors," the statement said adding customers have beenadvised to surrender excess or multiple connections. Though the deadline for submission of KYC was December31, 2012, KYCs are being accepted and LPG connections arebeing regularised for supply of subsidised cylinders tilldate, it added.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Chinese authorities have shut downor frozen the microblog accounts of several prominent liberalintellectuals and harassed rights lawyers lobbying againstunofficial "black jails," underlining the determination of thecountry's new leadership to control dissent even as it vows toroot out corruption. The moves over the last few days occurred around the timeofficials announced that a senior official was beinginvestigated for graft, months after a prominent journalistaccused him of wrongdoing. The probe against Liu Tienan, deputy chairman of China'seconomic planning agency, was heralded by the Chinese press asproof that the battle against corruption is best fought whenauthorities allow public participation. "The authorities and the people combined their strengthsin this case, and it is an encouragement to the public's powerin fighting corruption," said a state-run daily, the BeijingNews, in a commentary. But in other instances, the authoritarian government hasshown an unwavering intent to clamp down on anyone who seeksto publicly pressure it into social or political change. Themessage appears to be that if any reform is on the agenda, theCommunist Party will push it through on its own terms. "The controls are tighter than ever," said Li Cheng, anexpert on China's elite politics at the Washington-basedBrookings Institution. "The challenges are greater, so thesuppression is escalating." Small groups of activists have been detained in Beijingand other cities for holding banners calling for officials topublicly declare their assets a key anti-graft measure thatthe government has been reluctant to implement. One activist, Liu Ping, has been accused of incitingsubversion, a vaguely worded charge frequently used tosuppress dissidents. Authorities are also maintaining a years-long effort toquash legal activism. On Monday, several rights lawyers attempting to visit oneof China's unofficial detention centers also known as "blackjails" in the southwestern city of Ziyang were beaten byunidentified men, said Beijing attorney Li Heping, who wascontacted by one of the lawyers. The efforts to police discourse are also being ramped upin the Chinese blogosphere, where users often challenge thegovernment's version of events and its control overinformation. Over the weekend, authorities apparently removed allmicroblog accounts belonging to the writer Hao Qun, betterknown by his pen name Murong Xuecun, from four differentsites. His subsequent efforts to set up new accounts have beenblocked, he said.

An indigenously-developed vaccine
that could cost around just Rs 50 per dose was unveiled here
today to treat severe rotavirus diarrhoea, which kills more
than one lakh children under the age of five in India every
year.
The Rotavac vaccine, which is a culmination of efforts
spanning 28 years, has an efficacy of 56 per cent if
administered in the first year of life, according to
scientists who released the results of the Phase III clinical
trials of the vaccine.
"Rotavac significantly reduced severe rotavirus diarrhoea
by more than half," M K Bhan, former Secretary, Department of
Biotechnology, who isolated the rotavirus strain in 1985 while
pursuing research at AIIMS, told reporters here.
However, commercial production of the vaccine would take
some time as it is yet to get clearance from the Drug
Controller General of India (DCGI).
"We are planning to file a dossier with the DCGI in July.
We will come to the market after getting the requisite
regulatory clearances," Krishna M Ella, Chairman and Managing
Director, Bharat Biotech, said.
Bharat Biotech, which has been associated in the
development of vaccine candidates and clinical trials, has
announced a price of USD one (about Rs 54.7 )per dose--much
cheaper than other rotavirus vaccines available in the market.
The price of the vaccine now used is in the range of Rs 800 to
900.
Officials said there were two licensed rotavirus vaccines
introduced in more than 40 countries but they remain out of
reach for many in the developing world.
"The results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed,
could save the lives of thousands of children each year in
India," K Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of
Biotechnology, said.
Rotavac is an oral vaccine administered to infants in a
three-dose course at the ages of six, 10 and 14 weeks
alongside routine immunisations recommended at these ages.
According to a study in Lancet, Rotavirus is most common
causative agent of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea (MSD) among
infants below 11 months age group in India.

Mount Everest losing its cloak of ice and snow Mount Everest is shedding itsfrozen cloak as its glaciers have shrunk at an alarming rateof 13 per cent over the last 50 years due to global warming, anew study has warned. Glaciers smaller than one square kilometre aredisappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 per centdecrease in surface area since the 1960s, researchers said. The snow-line also has shifted upward by 180 meters,according to lead researcher Sudeep Thakuri, from theUniversity of Milan in Italy. Because the glaciers are melting faster than they arereplenished by ice and snow, they are revealing rocks anddebris that were previously hidden deep under the ice. These debris-covered sections of the glaciers haveincreased by about 17 per cent since the 1960s, according toThakuri. The ends of the glaciers have also retreated by anaverage of 400 meters since 1962, the team found. Researchers taking a new look at the snow and ice coveringof Mount Everest and the national park have also been studyingtemperature and precipitation trends in the area. They found that the Everest region has been warming whilesnowfall has been declining since the early 1990s. Researchers suspect that the decline of snow and ice inthe Everest region is from human-generated greenhouse gasesaltering global climate. However, they have not yet established a firm connectionbetween the mountains' changes and climate change, Thakurisaid. Thakuri and his team determined the extent of glacialchange on Everest and the surrounding 1,148 square kilometreSagarmatha National Park by compiling satellite imagery andtopographic maps and reconstructing the glacial history. Their statistical analysis shows that the majority of theglaciers in the national park are retreating at an increasingrate, Thakuri said. The researchers found that the Everest region hasundergone a 0.6 degree Celsius increase in temperature and 100millimetre decrease in precipitation during the pre-monsoonand winter months since 1992. "The Himalayan glaciers and ice caps are considered awater tower for Asia since they store and supply waterdownstream during the dry season," said Thakuri. "Downstream populations are dependent on the melt waterfor agriculture, drinking, and power production," he said. The findings were presented at the Meeting of the Americasin Cancun, Mexico - a scientific conference organised by theAmerican Geophysical Union. PTI SAR AKJSAR05141607

Washington, May 14 (PTI) Mount Everest is shedding itsfrozen cloak as its glaciers have shrunk at an alarming rateof 13 per cent over the last 50 years due to global warming, anew study has warned. Glaciers smaller than one square kilometre aredisappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 per centdecrease in surface area since the 1960s, researchers said. The snow-line also has shifted upward by 180 meters,according to lead researcher Sudeep Thakuri, from theUniversity of Milan in Italy. Because the glaciers are melting faster than they arereplenished by ice and snow, they are revealing rocks anddebris that were previously hidden deep under the ice. These debris-covered sections of the glaciers haveincreased by about 17 per cent since the 1960s, according toThakuri. The ends of the glaciers have also retreated by anaverage of 400 meters since 1962, the team found. Researchers taking a new look at the snow and ice coveringof Mount Everest and the national park have also been studyingtemperature and precipitation trends in the area. They found that the Everest region has been warming whilesnowfall has been declining since the early 1990s. Researchers suspect that the decline of snow and ice inthe Everest region is from human-generated greenhouse gasesaltering global climate. However, they have not yet established a firm connectionbetween the mountains' changes and climate change, Thakurisaid. Thakuri and his team determined the extent of glacialchange on Everest and the surrounding 1,148 square kilometreSagarmatha National Park by compiling satellite imagery andtopographic maps and reconstructing the glacial history. Their statistical analysis shows that the majority of theglaciers in the national park are retreating at an increasingrate, Thakuri said. The researchers found that the Everest region hasundergone a 0.6 degree Celsius increase in temperature and 100millimetre decrease in precipitation during the pre-monsoonand winter months since 1992. "The Himalayan glaciers and ice caps are considered awater tower for Asia since they store and supply waterdownstream during the dry season," said Thakuri. "Downstream populations are dependent on the melt waterfor agriculture, drinking, and power production," he said. The findings were presented at the Meeting of the Americasin Cancun, Mexico - a scientific conference organised by theAmerican Geophysical Union.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt,convicted in 1993 bomb blasts case, today urged a designatedTADA court here to allow him to surrender before Yerwada jailin Pune instead of giving himself up before the special court. Judge G A Sanap, hearing the actor's application,asked CBI to file a reply and posted the hearing on Dutt'splea tomorrow. Public prosecutor Deepak Salvi appeared forthe Government and CBI. Dutt filed the application in the TADA court, hoursafter the Supreme Court refused to grant Dutt additional timeto surrender for undergoing the remaining 42 months jail termin the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. The apex court was hearing a petition filed by a filmproducer, who sought time for Dutt to complete hisunder-production films. Dutt, convicted under the Arms Act and sentenced tofive year jail term, is supposed to surrender on May 16before the authorities. On May 10, the apex court had dismissed Dutt's pleaseeking review of its judgement on his conviction andfive-year jail term. 53-year-old Dutt was earlier granted four weeks moretime to surrender to undergo the remaining jail term. The Supreme Court, on March 21, had upheld hisconviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which it said wasengineered by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others withthe involvement of Pakistan's ISI. However, the apex court had reduced to five years thesix-year jail term awarded to Dutt by a designated TADA courtin 2006 while ruling out his release on probation, saying the"nature" of his offence was "serious". Dutt was convicted by the TADA court for illegallypossessing a 9 mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle, which were partof a consignment of weapons and explosives brought to Indiafor coordinated serial blasts that killed 257 people andinjured over 700 in 1993.